Senior business executives and government officials began to fear for the safety of themselves and their families after "Putin's chef" Yevgeny Prigozhin called for urgent "Stalinist repression" of wealthy Russians who did not help enough in the war. Writes about it Bloomberg.
Referring to unnamed representatives of the Russian elite in power and business, the publication claims that they are increasingly worried about the "unwillingness or inability of the Kremlin to protect its own." This concern is growing against the backdrop of public attacks on Prigozhin, who was considered by them to be a marginal character.
In early November, the Telegram channel "Prigozhin's Cap" published the answer of "Putin's chef" to RT's question about why the richest Russians "ignore the military situation." Prigozhin said that it is necessary to “turn on the levers and mechanisms for the total“ destruction ”of these people as businessmen, in relation to them Stalinist repressions are urgently needed.”
Bloomberg argues that the Russian elite admits the possibility of the same purges and arrests as in the Stalin era. One senior official compared what is happening in the country to a military dictatorship, but without the military coup that usually precedes it. The dominant emotion among the higher circles, the newspaper writes, is fear. Everyone Bloomberg spoke to agreed to speak only anonymously due to the risk of reprisals.
Many members of the business and bureaucratic elite believe that the militarization of the economy and society is only accelerating, despite public statements that mobilization has ended. Many in the government do not support Putin's war, but are too afraid to talk about it openly. This general concern has not yet escalated into resistance to Putin's policies, sources say.
One source told Bloomberg that Putin "has no choice but to rely on aggressive players like Prigozhin and Ramzan Kadyrov." Each of them has, in fact, a personal army loyal to them.
Prigozhin is a recidivist criminal convicted of theft, fraud and involvement of minors in criminal activities. His mercenaries are involved in many operations abroad, in some cases (as, for example, during the invasion of Ukraine) under the direct command of the GRU. Prigozhin is nicknamed "Putin's chef" because he organizes Kremlin dinners. He also funds the Internet Research Agency, the largest troll factory in Russia.
During the war in Ukraine, he launched a massive campaign to send Russian prisoners to the front. The Insider wrote that over 500 convicts recruited by "Putin's cook" were killed in the war zone in two months.